(Newser)
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Kent Brantly, who arrived yesterday as the first person in America carrying Ebola, walked into Emory University Hospital under his own power. "It was a relief to welcome Kent home today," said his wife, Amber, in a statement. "I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the US. I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital." What happens next is largely up to Brantly's own immune system, notes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There's no treatment for Ebola, and all doctors at Emory can do is keep Brantly hydrated and strong enough to fight the virus. "We just have to keep the patient alive long enough in order for the body to control this infection," says one doctor.

What won't happen next is an outbreak of Ebola on US soil, experts tell the AP, adding that Emory is one of the best and safest places on the planet to treat the deadly virus. The hospital's infectious diseases unit is state of the art and has treated worse than Ebola; in 2005 it handled SARS patients, notes USA Today. That hasn't stopped a slew of "nasty emails" and 100 or so calls to the CDC, says its director, questioning why the agency brought Brantly stateside to begin with—and noting the CDC's shaky track record of late. "I hope that our understandable fear of the unfamiliar does not trump our compassion when ill Americans return to the US for care," says Dr. Tom Frieden.

$9­­­­­­­­­7­­­­­­­­­/­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­r­­­­­­­­­ re­­­­ceiveing­­­­­­­­­­­­­>>>CLICK NEXT TAB FOR MORE INFO AND HELP

dan6807

Aug 3, 2014 9:19 PM CDT

Keep this date 8-3-2014 in mind as it marks the start of Ebola deaths in North America. Where are the Chinese, Russian, Indian, French, etc. experts?

VladT

Aug 3, 2014 12:45 PM CDT

I know very little about the immune system (I know some, living post-transplant in a state of chronic rejection), but if he survives, which I hope he does, can antibodies be extracted from his blood to potentially develop a vaccine? I understand the actual vaccine process is a million times more complicated than that, but is it a starting point? Just curious.....